10 May 2005

The Race has Begun (Again)

We were finally given our first group assignment today. That is akin to the referee blowing the whistle to start... The Race.

The Race usually happens in group projects and assignments, where we must race against each other to:

1. Get a group together
2. Outwit, Outsmart, and Outplay (if necessary) all other groups to come up with the best report
3. Book our presentation slots

I find that the first task, getting a group together, is the trickiest part. It's too bad that Political Correctness experts do not specialize into this area, as they will surely make a lot of money from advising students how to go about rejecting people and asking others to join their groups. It's a dangerous minefield that might blow up if not navigated correctly.

As for myself, I navigate it by joining different groups every semester. I maintain the dynamics of always being in a fresh group, while avoiding the notion that I "belong" to any particular set of people. I find this strategy very effective.

However, this semester has seen a massive reduction in the number of projects, probably due to lecturers' vocal complaints (and also students' silent ones). In exchange, more emphasis is placed on Lab Tutorials. While this should have been a good move, lecturers are beginning to treat the assignments as projects. Therefore, we get almost the same workload, with only half the marks at stake.

We were overjoyed when we realized that we don't have projects. Right now, I'm beginning to dread what is going to come over the next few weeks.

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